NESQLUG News

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"A Beacon to Guide the Wandering Soj

nibii EL ane er l... ll... nn

EDITOR'S NOTES

I want to draw your attention to
two biggies in the QL world.

In this issue Gary Norton has an
excellent article on the Spirit of
volunteerism in making groups such
as ours work. I read it a dozen
times over a month and am
impressed with its revelations.

Robert Gilder from Long Island, NY
a NESQLUG member serendipitously
supplied a grand example of
applying Gary's theme. Ed Kingsley
had asked in the last newsletter for
help in compiling a SuperBASIC
version of Checkers (key punched
by Gary) which was good but
abysmally slow in computing. Bob
responded. He was unsuccessful, so
disk three of NESQLIB will have
only the SuperBASIC, ‘but Robert
exemplifies one way that external
members of NESQLUG can actively
participate. QDOS to you, Bob!

Number two is that
features Prominantly in QL World's
March and April edition. So beg
borrow or subscribe (to) copies,

NESQLUG

The extraordinary part is that in a
four month period NESQLUG (USA)
was given print space three times
in a British magazine (including
Robin Stevenson's seminal article on
the QL in North America in
December, 1991.

Finally, welcome to our group, Mr.
Moll of Delft, Holland,

DIRECTORY
Director
Treasurer
Membership Se'xy
Disk Librarian
Editor
Newsletter Liason

ourner Home from the Abyss of Confusion"

— — dy to ap ap aw ao eo ww s_d4íS.......

Al Boeha, 33 Selfridge Rd,
Sherm Waterman, 40 Eileen St, Yarmouth Port MA 02675

Bedford MA 01730

Ed Kingsley, 16 Highland Ave, Saugus MA 01906
Peter Hale, 168 Bell inghan St, Chelsea MA 02150
Mike Jonas, 1691 Cambridge St 821, Cambridge MA 02138

Ne ae ae Me ae the ee ee Se Re Se ae Rs Re Rey ao ae tee See ay aw tee ae me

The NESGLUG NEWS is the Journal
of the New England Sinclair QL User
Group. It is published bi-monthly.

Annual membership is $10.00 (stu-
dents $5.00) in North America. The
rest of the world - $15.00 air mail.

We meet monthly on the first Sat-
urday of odd-numbered months and
the first Sunday of even numbered
months. If that's a holiday weekend,
we meet the following weekend.

NEXT MEETINGS

NESQLUG meets from 11:00am to
4:00pm, Saturday, March 7, at the
home of Al & Dorothy Boehm, 33
Selfridge .Road, Bedford, MA. Call
(617) 275-1097 for directions. Come
9:00 to 10:00 for coffee and set up.

In April it meets from 1:00 pm to
4:00 pm, Sunday, Apr 5, at Mike
Jonas, 1691 CCambridge St,
Cambridge, to learn about BCPL.

IIT.
Our exchange Policy is simple: we-
send-you-ours-if-you-send-us-yours
(WSYOIYSUY) - and you have
Something to say about the QL.

Please forward exchange issues to
Mike Jonas, 1691 Cambridge St.,
Cambridge, MA 02138.

Unless copywritten by the author,
articles/listings are in the public
domain. Attribution is requested.

phone
(617) 275-1097
(508) 362-5322

(617) 233-3671
(617) 889-0830
(617) 876-7251

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CONTENTS

Editor's notes

Next Meeting

Directions from the Director
IFE Library

Membership Participation
Key whiz

Looking at ED Drives
Toward a New (QL) World Order
Music Lovers

Handy Procs

Other Thoughts

Q-DOS

NESQLUG LIBRARY UPDATE
text87 Plus 4 Shipped

IFE Disk Rules

Viewing in Three Dimensions
Last Minute Gold News

c cO 6 00 CO CO 00 - -1 CO) Qn 4a CO F2 F2 > —

=

DIRECTIONS FROM
THE DIRECTOR
by Al Boehm

This last seven months have been
extremely busy for me. I worked 60
to TO hours a week and wrote (as
well as developed the theory for)
two major computer programs.

The first program called VISTA delt
with simulation of clouds. It has
advanced the state of the art in
cloud simulation. It uses fractals
and then some. It was written in
SuperBASIC, compiled with the
Turbo compiler and run on the QL.
I've given Peter some of the figures
and a copy of the paper for any
who are interested in the details.

The second program (a couple of
thousand lines long) had to do with
cloud climatology and was written
on an IBM clone in QuickBasic which
is fairly new, has a lot of slick
features, and is one of the best
Basics available for the clones.

Which would I prefer to use to
develop a new program? The answer
is SuperBASIC. Why? The answer
is time - my time. I can do 50%
more in the same amount of timc.
(Continued Right)

IFE LIBRARY
by Peter Hale

The IFE library is all duplicated
with the exception of the Spanish
Club and the C68 compilation
system. By the time you read this,
those two may be ready. Demand
for the IFE Database disk has been
brisk.

We sent IFE a copy of NESQLIBno2
and received the following reply (in
part) from Franz Herrmann, Foreign
Contact Secretary.

"How do you feel about me compiling
an IFE update for NESQLUG.
Several disks have been added and
with the latest release of the C68
Compilation System, more and more
programs are [being] ported.

"If your group wants an update let
me know if I should include the C68
(eight disks), a German Bible (seven

disks) and/or a topic oriented
[collection] of the IFE library
(seven disks). The latter [has]

fractals on one disk, communícation
programs on another, graphic
demonstrations, etc.

"By the way, thank you for the
Second NESQLUG disk. It looks
highly interesting. I am especially
glad that it is nearly all new
material. The Skull demo is really
funny and we wil show this in
Münster, at an International QL
meeting in March. The NESQLUG
NEWS wil be shown around."

So get in your wish list by phone
as soon as possible so I can write
to Franz.

Also, see rules for IFE library disks `
on page 8.

eee H-7H-H-4-H- H7H---H-- HH - ^ HÀ P
BEEP ??

On a different topic, we are starting
a series of contests. This next
meeting we wil see who has written
the most useful BEEP and who has
written the most humorous BEEP.

MEMBERSHIP
PARTICIPATION
by Gary Norton

Juring the January 4th’ meeting of
‘ESQLUG, a discussion of parti-
ipation in the group developed.
Jl agreed that it takes a lot of
vork to get the meetings set up
.nd the newsletter put together.
lowever, there was a feeling, and I
relieve rightly so, that some
aembers of the group are pulling
aore than their share and are
eceiving less than full cooperation
n some endcavors from othcr
naembers.

Zach “member of NESQLUG had a

reason for joining the
One reason everyone
to get support and

"articular
iser group.
joined was

nformation to enhance the utility of.

heir QL computers. This is
.ccomplished through the group's
neetings, the newsletter, and the
tetwork of members who are helping
o keep the QL a viable alternative

o Dig Blue.

.n order to keep the NEW ENGLAND
3INCLAIR QL USERS GROUP a going
concern, with a newsletter, it is
mportant to get more members
ictive in its operation.
;eographic considerations, many
1embers cannot always (or ever)
nake it to the meetings. Under thc
oresent system, that gives regular
neeting attendees a monopoly on
yow the group is operated. They
including me) decide what is to be
lone with the club's finances, what
-opics/issues/ activities will take
place at the meetings, and in most
:ases, what appears in the
newsletter.

Even though ! attend regularly, !
was coerced into sending my first
article for publication in the
newsletter. However, I did send in
that first one and have gone on to
submit several others, willingly, on
my own. At first I was reluctant to
submit anything because I felt there
are a number of the members with a
much better knowledge of the QL,
programming, computers in general,
cte. However, it turned ott that

Because of

+A

e

even I could contribute somcthing
meaningful to the other readers.
Everyone who receives the newslet-
ter is encouraged to submit articles.

Articles don't have to be earth-
shaking to be useful. If you have
a particular knack or interest, turn
it into an article. If you want to
learn about a particular topic, send
a request to the editor. If you
received a new piece of software or
hardware and want to do a critique,
it would be welcomed by all the
readers. Do you have ideas on
improving the group or newsletter?
Send it in! Do you have a gripe
with something? Let us know! A
note though. If you do send some-
thing, it is important to put it on
disk or cartridge and send it along
with a hardcopy. The editor will
return your magnetic medium.

Articles for the newsletter aren't
the only way to become involved.
You've al! read that the second

NESQLUG library disk has been
relcased. We need more programs
for the third and subsequent lib-

rary disks. They may be original
Programming or keyed in programs
from QL World or other publications.
One source I found were Public
Domain Lotus 1-2-2 templates that I
converted for use on the Psion
Abacus spreadsheet.

You might bc interested in one of
the offices of the group. If so, let
the Director know that you're
interested, and at the next meeting
it wil be brought up for a vote. If
someone lives outside the Greater
Boston area and would like to
attend a meeting, but cannot come
to one of the regularly scheduled
ones, let the Director know if you'ld
ike to be a host. Chances are,
unless you live on the West Coast,
that there would be enough interest
to get enough members to attend to
make it worthwhile.

As mentioned earlier, everyone has
a particular reason for paying out
the $10.00 membership fee. Every-
thing involved with the group is
voluntary. One may become a mem-
ber and never be heard (Cont right)

>- KXEYWHIZ
: by Ed Kingsley

Frustration may be the Mother of all
ALTKEYs. llere aro three more
ALTKEYs that I use which you might
also find of intercst.

The first I wrote to quickly index
PROCedures and FuNctions in the
NESQLUG Library Programs. This
ALTKEY LISTs all Program Lines
divisible by 100. If your Program's
PROC's and FuN's start at Line
Numbers divisible by 100, as in the
Library Programs, it docs the same
for you. If not, see Lib#2, PROC-
num, bas, which does it for you.

The List appears in Monitor Window
#1 (Right) and won't conflict with &
LISTing in Window #2 (Left). LOAD
the Program and initiate the ALTKEY
(e.g. ALT/SHIFT + °2°).

1) ALTKEY "?',"CLSIiH1: LIST#1,100,
105,100: FOR x=2 to 9: PRINTIH,' ‘3:
LIST#1,x*100: END FOR x: FOR x=10
to 50: LIST#1,x*100: END FOR x",""

LIST#1,100,105,100 - prints the Pro-
gram Name (Line 105), with "zzz'g"
(Line 100), above and below it, as in
Library Program headings and may
be omitted. Use (CTRL + F5) to
pause scrolling if there are too
many Lines to fit the Window. N.B.
the first set of ' ° has a space; the
"" on the end do not.

I use ABACUS mostly to process
Columns of Text. QUILL is abysmal
at dealing with ‘columns’, but
ABACUS is designed for it, albeit
Primarily for formulae and numbers.

MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION (Cont)
from or one may become a member
and wish to run the whole show,

I have shown my own reluctance in
many respects, but I have found it
rewarding to contribute to the lib-
rary disks. Submitting articles isn't
‘too bad either. So, if. you have the
-desire to be more actively involved,

lease do so. Remember, you don't
nave to attend all the meotings lo
become an active member.

NESQLUG NEWS

-4-

Entering text is, unfortunately,
roundabout, tedious and often
downright annoying. liclp was

clearly needed.
Xy other two ALTKEYs are inspired

by an EXECutable routine for
ABACUS by Réal Cagnon. It enables
the ALT Key to work with the

Cursor (Arrow) Keys to “ENTER the
Command Line then automatically
moves the cursor to the next ccll
(up, down, left or right). It works
well, but unfortunately overrides
ALT + Cursor Xey Commands used in
other Tasks and Programs, (e.g. the
SuperBASIC Editor) and does
nothing to simplify Text input.

My ALTKEY(s) CENTERS) the
Command Line, moves "Down" to the
next Row (or "Over" to the next
Column) and automatically goes back
into the Text Mode (Shift 4 *) for
another Text entry.

2) ALTKEY "/^,",CHR$(216),CIR$(34)
(where 216 is code for down
arrow and 34 is code for SHIFT °)

This moves "Down" and is useful for

labeling Spreadsheet Pows.

3) ALTKEY "j^," ,CIHR$$(200),CHR$(34)
(where 290 is code for right
arrow)

This moves "Right" and is good for

Spreadsheet Column Labels.

I use "/" and ";" because of their
proximity to the ALT Key. Use any
keys which makes sense _to you.
Note that the " following the first
comma is a pair of Single quotes -
an empty string - no £pace.

Omit CHR$(34) if you don't require
Text Mode. Then it will CENTER)
your Formula or Number and move
automatically to the adjacent cell.
This prevents 'writing over' cells (if
you sometimes forget to move the
cursor to another cell) and saves a
Keystroke, (or) too.

These ALTKLY's, and some others I
use recularly, have made ABACUS
much less tedious, saved time and
possibly my sanity.

January/February 1992

LOOKING AT ED
DRIVES
by Sherm Watcrman

1 had bought a Gold Card in June
1991 and was experiencing the joys
of an almost "normal" computer.

My thoughts then became "How nice
it would be to have more disk
storage capacity so disks would not
have to be constantly changed."

(Leading to a medical condition
known as disk-wrist. ED.)
I'm inherently lazy, disorganized

and usually spend too much time
searching for the disk I want. A
hard disk was a possibility, but the
reports I'd read on the one for the
QL from England had left me cold.

Well! What do you know? The next
QL WORLD advertised MIRACLE
SYSTEMS dual 3.2 meg disk drives!

When I wrote MIRACLE, they replied
that the 110/120v power supply for
North America was not yet. available
but was expected in December, 1591.
I ordered the drives and the Quad
drive interface. They arrived
almost on schedule in January, 1992,
along with 10 ED 3.5" disks (as in:
"ORDER in the next ten minutes and
we xil include absolutely free as
our gift to you ...").

The Quad drive interface (avaiiable
for both the Cold Card and the
Trump Card for £15) slips easily
into the Cold Card ribbon cable slot.
It is more than just an option to
boost the drives accessed from
three to four. It has two slots, one
on the top for flpl /flp2,, which
are my 3.5" ED drives, and one on
the left side for fp3_/Mp4_, my
c: .ginal 3.25” drives, Thus no need
to build a new four drive system,
although a four drive system could
plug into the top slot.

When I formatted my first ED disk !
was amazed at the format report
6100/6400. It was expected, but
zecing it was another thing.

The expansion takes some gctting
used to. My only other computer

NESQLUG NEWS

-5-

expcricnce was with a T/S 2068, so
I will have to learn to organize my
additional capacity properly. But
like a kid with a new toy (aren't we
all), I'll learn about sub-directories,
etc. in time.

Formatting an ED disk takes no
longer than lower capacity 5.25"
1410 sector disks but results in
more than four times the capacity.
LOADing and COPYing scem faster,
though I haven't run time trials.

My fpi, disk holds TASKMASTER,
the four PSION programs, a game
(SOLITAIRE), 10 utilities, PROFES-
SIONAL PUBLISHER and a sizeable
SuperBASIC database program. Yet
there are still 2668 free sectors.

Life is not all a bed of roses,
however. t present, I can only
format disks when the ribbon cable
is connected to the top slot (my
fip1_/flp2_ ED drives).

Also, copying bctween drives
connected to the separate slots is
unreliable on my setup. The
directory shows a transfer, but the
QL hangs when trying to run or
load the file. Although MIRACLE:
replaced the interface promptly, the
problem won't go away and it may
be something in the COLB CARD
itself. I am in continuing corres-
pondence with MIRACLE.

Finally, ED diszk supply is a
problem. Suppliers are few and far
between (Radio Shack expects to.
have them in March) and they are
expensive. This is not critical as
the drive will also happily handle
ordinary 3.$” DD and ND disks.

Here's something to think about.
The February QL WORLD reported
that 25 meg floppy rives are
available in the Far East. Make
them for the QL and my new drives
are up for sate!

[Editor's addendum: The latest
MIRACLE advertisement reports that
supplies of the new drives (from
Mitsubishi) are short since MIRACLE
has not been able to negotiate a
favorable price. (Continucd right.)

January/February 1092

TOWARD A NEW
CQL) WORLD
ORDER
by Ed Kingsley

` 1 write many documents with text in
columns and QUILL isn't much help

in automatically rearranging text. I
, have found that ABACUS is a handy
' program with some word processing
- functions unavailable in QUILL.

One can edit columns of text or
numbers and alphabetize and orde?
them in Ascending sequence. (Such
-aba files can be FLXPORTed to

QUILL or printed-out from ABACUS).

lf like me, however, you have ever
attempted to order a list of text or
numbers in Descending alphabetical
or numerical order, you have
Probably found yourself out of luck.
ORDER only works one way, unless
you modify a copy of Abacus with
Config bas.

Recently, I needed to order a
columni of (100) names in s

Dezcendinr.
alphabetical order (Z to A) and did

it thusly:

1) First, with thé names in Column
C, I ORDBRed Columm C in
Azcending order. (eg, F3, O, C,

C1:C100) (A to 2)

2) Then, in cel Al, 1 put the
formula "colzrow()-100". (The
(The number 100 is arbitrary,

ED DREVES :' (Cont)
Also, note that TEAC makes a ED
drive compatible with the QL. IQLR
reported that thcy are available fom
J. D. Mannam Co. fof under $100.00
(1-890) 228-0308. The compatible
model is FD235J 3653. Other models
are NOT compatible,

This. drive win
TRUMP card - and maybe other disk
interfaces - but won't format more
than 1410 zectorz, the basic 3.5" DD
disk. 1t is worth considering if you
Plan to upgrade Your sysiem to 2.5"
drives but arc holding off on a Cold
Card for the time being.]

NESQLUG NEWS

also work with a.

ae ee

use whatever number repre
sents the number of items YOU
wish to order.)

3) Next, in cell B1,
formula "A15(-1)".

I put the

4) Then, I ECHOed that formula

` down Column B to the extent of
the text. (eg, F3, E, Bl,
B2:D100.)

Initially, Column A contained a list
of negative (but stil Ascending)
numbers beginning with (-99) in
Ccll Al, and continuing down (up
numerically) to (0) in Cell A100.

In Column B, the "A1*(-1)" formula
in each Cell copied and printed the

number(s) from column A, but

of each number so
that it became a s column
of numbers (eg, 99 to 0): Then, by

ORDERing on Column B, Column C
was inverted and appeared in

Descending order.

I used the Commands: Grid, Delete,
Columns A to B, to eliminate Columns
A & B, and my text was then in
Column A, just the way I wanted ít.
l imagine that the erder of numer-
ical data may be similarly inverted.
Just remember to do the ORDIRing
on Column B.

NOTE: When a Column is ORDLEDPe(c,
every Column in the same numerical
range (cg, 1 to 100) gets rearran-
ged with it. If you have other data
in adjacent columns (to the left or
right) which should not be dis-
turbed, first move the data to be
O2DDRed to an unused area of the
spreadsheet (down NOT right or
left) with the copy comand. ORDED
it there and then CODY. it back
where you want it.

CK, its not elegant, but it's
reasonably simple and it does work.

[Ed note. would abs(A1) also work
in column B? In column A? Think
about it.)

January/February 1992

BUS1U LOVERS
by Hugh Howie

Just got the second Library disc
put out by our intrepid Librarian
and there is enough to keep the
Music Lover busy for many a day.

I am not going to slight the rest of
this disc, for there are many really
great things on it. Some wonderful
Pics and even one that talks like a
certain head of state, it just keeps
on saying Watch My Lips over and
over and over again. I went to the
meeting of another club at which I
was going to give a demonstration
and halfway through the business
sector of the meeting I turned this
on. The speaker, who could not sec
the screen, could not understand
the cause of the hilarity until he
was told he was on TV. Ho tweaked
his moustache, straightened his
shoulders, put on a smile, then
turned round to look at the screen.
lirmph. (1 had to leave early)

Dut back to the music. Anyone who
tries to tell you there is no music
in the QL has not heard this lot.
Simply wonderful. Not only that, but
you are encouraged to try your
hand at creating your favourite
tunes with the program. Thought I
might try for the Prisoners Chorus
from Nabucco! How about it Peter?
"Think it is possible?

The nice thing about it is that,
within limitations of course, you do
not have to know how the sound in
the QL works; all you need is the
basics of music. OX! OX! It doesn't
cive a complete keyboard or a
selection of all the keys and sharps
and flats, but enough to make you
want to try something.

From now on we can call him Pete,
the Music man.

There is another little utility to get
rid of all those ugly screens left
behind by some programs. Lovely
to get rid of them without a reset.

Al we necd now is a littlo utility

like this to cct rid of all those
DEXECed screens we can be left with.

NESQLUG NEWS

21-

HANDY PROCS
by Peter Hale

Etsewhere in this issue Ed Xingsley
describes some handy ALTKEYs, but
don't forget that DPROCedures are
useful for many repetitive tasks.

I developed two to make IFE backup
copies on 5.25" and 3.5" disks.

With a Gold Card there is enough
memory to hold the contents of an
entire disk on a ramdisk, then copy
from ramdisk to each of the backup
media in turn. With less than a full
disk other interfaces/memorios can
be used as well.

The benefit of copying to ramdisk is
that the disk head does not have to
be lifted during the copying
process and the potential for
tranzcription error is reduced.

But I was always (mis)typing a
series of WCOPY commands. So I
wrote the following:

10 DEFine PROCedure CPr
20 WDEL rani

30 WCOPY fip3_rami_
40 END DEFine CPr

I type CPr at the command line and
gct the prompt to delete the prior
contents of ramdisk 1, if there are
any; otherwise, it skips straight to
the WCOPY prompt. All I need to do
is press A for All each time.

100 DEFine PROCedure CP2
110 WCOPY rami, ,flp?..
120 WCOPY rami,,f]p23.,
120 END DEFine CP2

CP2 is similar for copying from
ramdisk to each backup disk.

Hope this prompts you for ideas to
simplify other repetitive tasks.

Ed note to Hugh: I didn't invent the
extensions that made Sounder
possible, But thanks to Miss Seal
in the 4th grade I can stumble
through printed notes (slowly).

January/February 1992

OTHER THOUGHTS
by Ed Kingsley

I am trying at the moment to
produce BEEP tones which actually
correspond precisely to a musical
Scale. The pitches available using
only the BEEP Pitch and Duration
Parameters are seldom even close *o
true musical pitches. !f a reader
has already worked out "true" tones
with the aid of the other Para-
meters, I'd really appreciate hearing
from him/her. If I am successful, I
will publish the Parameters in an
upcoming newsletter.

If anyone out there has any idea(s)
about accessing the excellent music
chip in the 2068 by connecting it
(somehow) to a QL - PLEASE get in
touch with me.

Q — DOS
by Ed Kingsley

Let the games begin! Judy and Wil
Norton did and treated us to a
Mexican repast last month, teasing
our minds and our tastebuds. The
chile was delicious and no lasting
Symptoms were reported by any of
the survivors. . Just kidding, it was
caramba, Judy, muy bueno, gracias
and, until next time, Buenos Aires.

It was also good to see Fred Romer
again. Fred has been in hospital
lately, allegedly using experimental
Pharmaceuticals in his quest for
gold in the summer Moustache
Olympics. Lookin’ good, Fred.

NX SQILUCG LIBRARY
UPDATE
by Ed Kingsley

Nada. Nichts. Nothing. Zip ase
I have reccived no Programs for
Disk22 in two months.

Progress zcrc.
people.

Use it or lose it,

If you're entering the "BEEP"
contest next mc.ting,. be sure and
check out the BEEP_Demo_bas
program on LIB#2.

[Ed Note: half the stuff for disk
three is in hand, so don't despair!]

NESQLUG NEWS

-8-

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orders for text87 Plus 4, the latest
gencration of this advanced word-
processor for the QL.

Shipping was delayed after a few
bugs were discovered during Beta
testing.

Plus 4 is a complete rewrite in
compiled C and assembly and now
features on-line help (in lieu of a
manual) and many additional fonts
and printer access functions.

Document files follow a new format
designated | T21, but older -T87 are
readily imported.

IFE DISK RULES.
by Peter Hale

about
copying

There is some confusion
Public Domain software
charges, so let me repeat.

NESQLIB disks are $1.00 on your
preformatted medium, $1.50 on ours.

The IFE database disk is FREE!

(paid from your membership fees)
It lists all software with a brief
description of each title and
languuage. Just let us know your
choice of medium, and it goes out
free with the next newsletter. If
you can't wait, send $0.52 for

postage, but. you must let us know
the mediium. 110 sector disks
minimum.

When you decide which IFE disks
interest you, then you must send a
preformatted disk and return
postage at the rate of $0.52 for the
first disk and $0.23 for each disk
thereafter. Decause of the volume
and time, we are NOT supplying or
formatting disks for IFE disk
requests.

Send 5.25" 1110 sector disks to Fd
Kingsley, 3.5" disks to Peter Hale.

January/February :222

VIEWING IN THREE
DIMENSIONS
PART I
by Al Boehm

Displaying three dimensional figures
using the computer has always fas-
cinated me. It turns out there are
many ways to "see" something in
three dimensions using perspective,
motion, shadows, etc. In a series of
articles, I hope to share my explor-
ations of these methods with you.

This PART I demonstrates the use of
filter eyeglasses to simulate three
dimensional viewing.

I don't know when the first 3D
filter glasses were used, but I
remember a rash of 3D comic books
and movies in the late 2950's. The
comic books used a red and green
filter to allow each eye to see
something different thus giving the
impression of depth. The QL game
Wanderer uses the same technique
to give the impression of flying
through space. The illusion is good
enough to give you a mild case of

space sickness if your seat belt
isn't on tight! I
Modern movies use a more

sophisticated filter system involving
polarized light and polarized filters
on your glasses which. allow colored
images. With only red and green
filters, only a single color scene
results. But since the QL (with a
color monitor) puts out red and
green images, we can use it to make
objects appear three dimensional.

You need a color monitor and a pair
of red and green [filer glasses.
These glasses sometimes come in
cercal boxes. In any case, they are
not hard to make using a small
square of green and a small square
of red cellophane.

Figure 1 shows how binocular vision
can determine distance by sensing
the different directions the eyes
must follow to focus on an object.
Figure 2 shows how the filters over
each eye fool them into thinking the
object is closer or further away
than the surface of the monitor.

APO AY ree Atv tte

Listing 1 demonstrates this three
dimensional effect by drawing a
green circle and a red circle.
Pushing the up or down arrows
makes the circle appear to come out
of or recede into the monitor. The
letter s stops the program, The
program is set up for glasses with
green on the left. If yours are
opposite, reverse the INK colors in
lines 160 and 170.

At first you may have trouble
focusing on the combined green/red
circle. A darkened room may help.
If you keep secing two circles, keep
staring at it. Sudenly your eyes
wil relax and you'll see one circle
floating in space. Once you see it,
the effect is worth the effort.

You are supposed to see only the
red circle through the red filter
and the green circle through the
green filter. But since the green
and red filters usual do not
exactly match the red and green
colors, some of the red circle may

"bleed" through the green filter
and vice versa. Thus, you may see
three circles: the combined

red/green and a scparate ghostly
red and green circle. Ignore these
paler circles and concentrate on the
combined circle. Some monitors
alow color adjustment to better
match the exact shade of the filters.

In part II (of many?) I will show
another way three dimensions can
be displayed on the QL.

LISTING I

100 REMark Circle3D

110 REMark 20 Feb 1992 by A.Poehm
120 PAPER 0

130 SCALE 100,-70,-50

135 d=8

140 REPeat distance

150 CLS

160 INK 4:CIRCLE -5+d/2,0,d

170 INK 2:CIRCLE +5-d/2,0,d

180 change=CODE(INKEY$(-1))

190 SELect ON change

200 =208:d=d*.95:REM up arrow

210 =216:d=d*1.05:REM down arrow
229 =83,115:STOP:REM BIG S, small s
219 END SELect

250 END REPcat distance

Figure 1

\
Looks
"n
it's
L$ vere
Green
Red
filler

filter %

Figure 2

NES
QLUG
NEw
S
- 10 -
Januarv/F
ehriua
arv 199
2

ni?

NESQLUG NEWS

LAST MINUTE
GOLD NEWS

We have learned that Miracle has
just released rom 2.28 for the Gold
Card.

Two glitches have been fixed.

1) It is now possible to format
microcartridges. Formally, one
could only read and write to a
preformatted microcartridgc.

2) Networking with a JSU rom is
now OK. There had been a problem
discovered by NESQLUG member
Hugh Howie, our intrepid Networker
of the North (mo relation to Nanook
of the North).

Hugh and I had spent considerable
time to the financial benefit of AT&T
and Canada Bell discussing problems
with earlier GC roms. lugh sent off
the research data to MIRACLE and
in fairly short order rom 2.28 was
released and sent to him!

One more arrow in the quiver of
NESQLUG in making the world safe
for the QL:

Again, our advice is that if you
don't network or use microcart-
ridges, wait. Don't waste MIRACLE's
resources until you come up against
à Lug that is imporiant to you.
MIRACLE's customer service is
excellent, but try not to abuse their
good wil just to get a definitive
collection of Gold Card roms.

zi Canuaryv/Pehruare 1052